Meet the woman who becomes Santa’s little helper and buys 250 Christmas presents for adults in need every year

A woman who becomes Santa’s little helper every festive season will give 250 presents to adults in need this Christmas - and she has bought and wrapped them all herself.

Polly Arrowsmith, aged 55, of London, first started buying gifts for people she calls forgotten adults over 12 years ago and has now given away more than 2,500 presents. On one occasion she even donated 800 presents in a year.

Kind-hearted Polly buys for men and women of all ages, from aged 18 to 90 plus, and spends around £4 to £6 per gift - but she has one rule, branded items only. It sounds like an almost impossible task, but Polly, who is a qualified accountant, is also a money saving expert and has been working out money saving hacks for over four decades - so she knows exactly how to get top quality products for less.

This year, the gifts she is giving out include Body Shop shower gels, Dove skincare sets, Yardley hand creams, Maybelline make-up, Yankee candles, Adidas gift sets and Lynx shower gels.

Polly said: “I use Boots, Superdrug, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Look Fantastic, Accessorise, Paperchase; any company or brand that is seen as a little treat. People may think that poverty often means buying cheap products that may be the second rate, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Branded items are a little more expensive, but they are also a little more special.”

The people she gives the gifts to are elderly, ill, have no family, are not seeing their family for the festive season, have a mental illness, have a physical illness, have an addiction or have been forced into poverty by circumstance.

Polly said: “I pay for all this myself and do my entire project yearly by myself, unless someone fancies helping me do the wrapping. I want people to get branded goods so they realise no one has skimped. I feel like Robin Hood; using the big brand tactics against them to give to those in need. I donate to St Mungos, a UK homelessness charity based in London, sex workers, Old Aged Pensioners (OAP), a women’s refuge, asylum seekers, or anyone who asks.”

“Friends said my spare room looked like a market stall”

On Boxing Day, when most of us are relaxing at home and eating Christmas dinner leftovers, Polly is thinking ahead to the following Christmas and beginning to buy some of the 250 gifts she gives every year.

Polly said: “Everything I am giving this year was purchased from 26 December 2021 to present day. In every place I donate to, I give one present per adult. It is presented in a cellophane bag with a curling ribbon and a handful of chocolates such as Heroes, Celebrations, Quality Street, or Roses, depending on the age group it is aimed at.”

Polly has been discount shopping for 15 years and manages to get around a 50% discount on all of the items she buys - and not just at Christmas. She does, however, aim that each of the 250 Christmas presents she buys has a value of at least £10. She takes advantage of seasonal discounts, sales, loyalty cards, brand promotions and cashback offers to get the best prices possible.

She said: “Because I give away 250 presents a year, I need to buy bargains. I have no car, so I use a shopping trolley and a 55-litre backpack and walk from my home to the shops which are 10 minutes away. I may go back two or three times on the same day. It really is a labour of love.”

As the number of presents she buys increases, Polly needs more space to store them and so she dedicates her spare room to present storage.

She said: “I had friends over and they said it was like a market stall. I chose to give to 250 people though because it seemed like a reasonable number to make a difference.”

It all started over a decade ago with one act of generosity, and it’s continued every year since.

Polly said: “I started doing this as a friend of my sister was organising the OAPs Christmas Lunch. While they could get food donations, no one would donate alcohol and they were upset by pubs and bars being so mean. At the time, my sister knew I was buying meal deals where you got a free bottle of wine and had bought wine with me. My sister had quit drinking, and I could never drink a whole bottle of wine to myself, so I gave her friend my spare wine as well as my spare gifts.”

Almost 24 hours spent wrapping gifts

Polly will start wrapping the presents in early December, with an impressively speedy wrapping time of five minutes per gift. She will spend almost 24 hours in total carefully gift wrapping them all - unless she has help - and she’ll then begin giving them out from mid-December.

She said: “I was a Saturday girl at Bettys, a traditional tea room and shop which has five locations across the UK, when I was younger so I am quick at wrapping. We used to package all chocolates in the store and use curling ribbon on cake boxes.  If someone helps me, we can get it done in about eight to 10 hours, otherwise I listen to music and whizz through.

“I wrap in a very process driven way, so if I have twenty-five gifts, for example, I open up all the bags, put the gifts in all of them, then put in the chocolates and then tie two different curling ribbons on them and finally curl the ribbons and into a box they go. It is quicker than doing one at a time.

“I will start donating the first lot of these presents on Thursday 15 December at an OAPs Christmas Lunch called Young at Heart in London where I will donate 25 bottles of wine and 25 presents.”

Santa’s secret little helper

Polly has chosen to stay anonymous in her gift-giving mission.

She said: “No one really knows that I have given the presents, apart from the staff at that organisation. Having said that, I once popped into the OAP lunch to say hi to everyone at my sister’s friend’s request. One year when I went to St Mungo’s women’s long-term hostel to drop the gifts off a staff member asked me to give the gifts to a few of the women. I did that and then got a hug from one of the women as they remembered the contributions from the year before.”

For Polly, however, it’s more important to focus on the people she is giving to.

She added: “I have ever wanted or expected to be thanked. I would be uncomfortable if anyone felt any need to reciprocate in any way. I will continue to do this until I am not fit or able to do it.”